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THE MAROON TIGER
Page 8
KOLLEGIATE KROSSROADS BOOKS IN BRIEF
The bank of Iowa City having gone broke, the great
problem of running a city of 15,000 without any sys
tem of banking of any kind is facing the students of
the University of Iowa. The problem presented some
unique angles, for instance, “How was the proprietor of
the coffee shop adjoining the campus to cash a check
from home that students presented, if he, in turn, had
no place to deposit said checks?”
In retaliation to an order issued by the town of Han
over, New Hampshire, that all eligible Darthmouth stu
dents are required to vote, the students of the University
attended a meeting where they introduced and passed
two bills whicli proposed the construction of a city hall
one mile high and one foot wide, and a wall around
the city eight miles high. The citizens had to give in
rather than build the two structures.
A recent survey of the physical fitness of the fresh
men at the University of Syracuse reveals that 62 per
cent do not smoke tobacco, and that 82 per cent do
not drink intoxicating liquors, 11 per cent sleep six
hours or less, 57 per cent sleep seven hours, while 32
per cent sleep eight hours or more.
Following the suggestion made by the Women’s Spar
tan Club, after is w 7 as found that most males were poor
dancers, a dancing class has been started at Michigan
State for men, under the supervision of the woman’s
physical educational department.
Professor Copeland, the Harvard Lacedemonian says,
“Pretty good poetry is like pretty good eggs.”
(We wonder what kind of eggs would correspond with
the local poetry found in The Maroon Tiger.)
A survey at Swarthmore shows that where families
have felt the pinch of depression, some have continued
their sons at college and have kept their daughters at
home.
American students at the University of Amsterdam are
able to drink and chat after the one o’clock curfew
has sounded without fear of rule breaking. This privi
lege is only given to American students.
In an annual report to the Chancellor, Dean Bliss of
N. Y. U. Engineering School, stated that specialized
engineering makes teaching difficult and that more time
should be spent on fundamentals. z
Dr. Poteat, speaking before an Emory student meet
ing, declared that a world-wide protest against Japan
in the form of an international economic rebuke in
volving withdrawal of trade and credit would be more
effective in forcing that country to cease her militaristic
policy.
An appreciation of Rare Wines and Liquors is not a
motto or subject of some confirmed drinker, but is the
name of a new course being offered at the University
of Paris. So far, no one has cut a single class.
A prize winner at a recent masquerade ball given at
the University or Toronto was dressed as Mahatma
Ghandi with loin cloth and all. (We would like to know
if he had the goat.)
The Negro Author, by Vernon Loggins, Instructor in
English, Columbia University.
Mr. Loggins has given us in this very excellent study
of Negro literature a new insight into the vicissitudes
and achievements of the Negro author. His purpose is
not the mere chronological statement of Negro literary
productions, but to stimulate the embryonic writer to
struggle against all obstacles to preserve his rich, ar
tistic heritage.
The actual history of American Negro Literature has
not been told. The end of the nineteenth century proved
to the world that the Negro had a literature that had
been one hundred and forty years in the making. The
eighteenth century called Phillis Wheatley a “poetic
oddity”, but now we know that she gave expression to
her great emotion of gratitude for good treatment by her
owners. Francis E. W. Harper. Vassa, L. B. Haynes,
Albery A. Whitman, William Wells Brown, and Crum-
mell are almost unknown to the world today. Should
they not be known? They wrote in the North, where
they had freedom, in a sense. Their struggles were
greater than those of the present-day Negro writer, and
the true value of their works can only be found as re
corded by the unbiased, diligent historian.
The Negro author’s literary heritage was born in
the South. All the repressed, belligerent or pacifistic
emotion burst into the characteristics, well-known “folk
songs.” After the Negro was freed from physical bond
age, the chains of economic bondage fettered him. The
new emotion emanating from a new situation burst into
the “blues” songs. Modern authors have recognized this
rich treasure chest of material on every theme of human
activity, and have drawn from it. Evidences of their
recognition are shown by the themes of Langston Hughes’
Weary Blues and James Weldon Johnsons’ God’s Trom
bones.”
The Negro’s native expression is probably Ameri
ca’s greatest artistic heritage. Can the young, tenacious,
undaunted Negro author prove himself worthy of it?
The Negro has written no enduring masterpieces, but
his work at least shows tenacity of purpose. If he could
survive great periods of degradation with a “jubilee”
spirit, he can survive modern obstacles. Schuyler,
Hughes, and Cullen have overcome the “rejection slip
demon” and so can others. The Negro author has
sought and still “seeks the mountain lop.” He will use
his heritage to the best advantage and it will inspire him
to “rise and shine” in contemporary American litera
ture. (Columbia University Press, New York, 1931.)
—C. C. Gaines.
I DIDN'T KNOW—(SHE SAID)
By C. S. Buggs
I didn’t know you cared for me,
When other’s lips I touched.
I couldn’t see that you were praying
At night, when things were hushed.
I didn’t know you sang those songs,
Because you. loved me so.
And things I did, I now regret,—
You see—I didn't know.